Tech

A heat relief station in Arizona. Caitlin O’Hara/Getty Images

When a heat wave strikes, its exact impact on patients isn’t always clear until months later, when insurance claims data becomes available.

But a study from Harvard University, Boston University, and health data and analytics company Truveta, published Aug. 31 in the journal Nature Health, shows data can be obtained much faster. In this study, researchers were able to access emergency department (ED) visit data within electronic health record (EHR) data just one week after a visit happened.

This means health systems and public health officials can, in theory, use EHR data to assess in near real time whether measures like cooling centers or outreach are working, Amruta Nori-Sarma, the study’s lead author and deputy director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Healthcare Brew.

The study also provided additional findings about heat’s health impacts. During the June 2025 heat wave, 9.2% of all-cause ED visits were attributable to heat, according to EHR data across 19 states from hospitals in the Truveta network. During the August 2025 heat wave, 8.3% were attributable to heat. These results echoed other studies that logged more ED visits during hotter weather. Illnesses like kidney disease and psychiatric conditions saw especially high spikes.

We talked with Nori-Sarma to learn more about this study and the potential she sees in using EHR data to inform responses during heat waves.

Read the rest of the interview here.—CC

      

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Direct care

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Got medical debt? You’re not alone.

One out of three working-age adults with private insurance said they were paying off medical bills in a new survey released on Sept. 17 by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health policy research group. .

Past studies have found that the rising uninsured population is more likely to have medical debt than insured people. But mounting healthcare costs have strained even people with insurance.

“Medical debt is often viewed as a problem limited to people who are uninsured or who face a major medical emergency. But this survey shows that it is also widespread among Americans with private insurance,” Sara Collins, a study coauthor and the Commonwealth Fund’s senior scholar and VP for healthcare coverage and access and tracking health system performance, said in a press release.

Keep reading.—CC

      

Tech

Shannon May, Photos: Adobe Stock / Unsplash

Wellthy, a caregiving provider with services including backup care, is acquiring Cleo, which provides a range of support for caregivers at different stages of their lives.

Both companies have been around for a decade or more, and together count companies including Meta, Hilton, PepsiCo, and Salesforce as customers.

Around 120 Cleo employees will join Wellthy as part of the acquisition, bringing the acquiring company’s headcount to about 500.

This acquisition comes at a time when employees are struggling to secure the right care for their loved ones due to ongoing shortages in the caregiving market, the CEOs of Wellthy and Cleo told HR Brew. What’s more, employers may rely on a patchwork of point solutions to support workers with caregiving needs, which can create friction as workers try to access the right support.

With the merger, the two companies hope to address these gaps in support, they told us.

“When you have so many different solutions supporting a single family…you miss what’s happening in totality with that family unit,” Madhavi Vemireddy, CEO of Cleo, said.

“Wellthy and Cleo coming together really allows us to not only support all of those family needs, but also make sure we’re driving the best health outcomes for the caregiver and the care recipient by having that full view of what’s happening with that family,” she continued.

Keep reading on HR Brew.—CV

      

vital signs

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: 70%. That’s the portion of Gen Z healthcare workers who plan to look for a new role in the next year. (Healthcare Dive)

Quote: “When we’ve designed public programs in ways that people can’t figure out whether they’re eligible without consulting lawyers, we’ve done something wrong.”—Pamela Herd, a University of Michigan social policy professor, on legal and administrative barriers to Medicaid disability coverage (KFF Health News)

Read: Repeated clinical failures are making Parkinson’s drug developers rethink their strategy. (BioSpace)

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• Behavioral Health Medical Director at Humana
• Medical Center Business Development Director at Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of North Tampa
• OB/GYN Site Director at St. Peter’s University Hospital
• Medical Director at CommonSpirit Health
• Director of Nursing at Glenwood Center